Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Hidden Girl- Shyima Hall

Goodreads Summary:Shyima Hall was born in Egypt on September 29, 1989, the seventh child of desperately poor parents. When she was eight, her parents sold her into slavery. Shyima then moved two hours away to Egypt’s capitol city of Cairo to live with a wealthy family and serve them eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. When she was ten, her captors moved to Orange County, California, and smuggled Shyima with them. Two years later, an anonymous call from a neighbor brought about the end of Shyima’s servitude—but her journey to true freedom was far from over.Shyima was born in Egypt where it is common for parents who are poor to sell their children into slavery. She was sold off when she was eight years old to make money for her family and to also pay back for the money her sister stole when she worked for the same family. Shyima lived with the family in Egypt until they moved to the United States and brought her with them. She continued to be enslaved for a number of years until someone called the local police department and she was rescued.
This story is a heartbreaking story. Shyima gives a unabashed description about her life as a child slave. Her family was upset with her once she was rescued and told her to go back because she was no longer making money for her family that sold her off. She bravely stood up for herself and even spoke about her experience in court to be able to have the people who enslaved her prosecuted. Even after her rescue she deals with the anxiety and depression of missing out on so much of her childhood and trying to find a place to call home and redefining her belief of what a family is. This is a page turner. I highly recommend it. Shyima not only told her story of being sold into slavery but she also gave an account of what she dealt with after being rescued and how hard it was for her to adjust to being a normal teenager and how people still tried to take advantage of her even though they were suppose to be people helping her. I gave this a 4.5.